First Starship V3 launch slips

WASHINGTON — SpaceX is pushing back the first launch of the latest version of its Starship vehicle even as NASA is asking the company to accelerate work on a lunar lander version of the vehicle.

In a social media post early March 7, Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX, announced that the first flight of version 3, or V3, of Starship would be “in about 4 weeks.” Four weeks from March 7 is April 4.

The statement came nearly six weeks after his previous prediction of Starship’s next launch. “Starship launch in 6 weeks,” he said in another post Jan. 26. Six weeks from Jan. 26 is March 9.

Neither Musk nor SpaceX disclosed details about what is effectively a four-week slip in the schedule for the launch. However, it had been clear for some time that a Starship launch was not imminent based on the pace of development and testing activities at Starbase, the Texas site where Starships are built and launch, as well as a lack of maritime and airspace notices about a launch.

SpaceX said March 7 it had completed “cryoproof” testing of the Starship upper stage, designated Ship 39, for that next launch, demonstrating propellant loading and structural strength. The company did not disclose a projected launch date in that announcement.

Starship last launched in October on the final flight of version 2 of the vehicle. The company said then it was moving on to version 3, with upgrades to improve performance and reusability. A company executive said in early November that version 3 would be “our production rocket” with a first flight as soon as January.

Those plans suffered a setback when the first version 3 Super Heavy booster was damaged in testing Nov. 21. “Starship’s twelfth flight test remains targeted for the first quarter of 2026,” SpaceX said in a statement after the incident.

The slip comes as NASA has been pushing both SpaceX and Blue Origin, the two companies with Human Landing System (HLS) contracts to develop crewed lunar landers for Artemis, to speed up their work. In October, NASA’s acting administrator, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, said he would “open up” SpaceX’s existing contract to provide the lander for the first Artemis crewed landing mission, then Artemis 3, and seek acceleration plans from both Blue Origin and SpaceX.

The companies have submitted those plans and Jared Isaacman, NASA’s current administrator, has suggested that NASA has accepted them. However, neither the agency nor the companies have released details about those acceleration plans.

NASA has revised its Artemis architecture since then, announcing Feb. 27 that Artemis 3 will now be a mission in low Earth orbit in mid-2027 where Orion will dock with lunar landers from Blue Origin and/or SpaceX. That will be followed by lunar landing attempts with Artemis 4 in early 2028 and Artemis 5 in late 2028.

“Both HLS providers have offered solutions to accelerate their plans without compromising on the grander objective, which is we need to build out an ensuring presence so that, when we return to the moon, we have the capability to stay,” Isaacman said at that Feb. 27 announcement.

However, he did not disclose what those acceleration plans are. “While their proposals do take down some of the technical risk that would have existed before, we are not foregoing the capabilities that I think are absolutely necessary for America’s future in space,” he said.

At a Jan. 17 briefing during the first rollout for the Artemis 2 mission, Isaacman said NASA would be “as transparent as we can” regarding lunar lander development.

“The way the public can best follow along and probably measure progress is just observing launch rate,” he said. “That is absolutely the key to unlocking the capability that will be necessary to bring our lander to the lunar environment and bring astronauts down to the surface.”